The “Faith” Movement believes that the human mind and tongue contain a supernatural ability or power. When a person speaks expressing his faith in supposedly divine laws, his positive thoughts and positive verbal expression allegedly produce a “divine force” that will heal, produce wealth, bring success, and in other ways, influence the environment. Kenneth Copeland teaches that “the powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth. This force comes from inside us.” Thus, “There is nothing in this earth so great or powerful…that it cannot be controlled by the tongue…You can even control Satan by learning to control your own tongue.” According to the “Faith” teachers, God automatically responds and accomplishes what we command when we positively confess our needs and desires in faith.
This is why Christians must allegedly learn to operate their inner man or “spirit man” in the power of the spirit world through supernatural laws, laws that will operate for anyone, whether believer or unbeliever.
As Charles Capps observes, “Words are the most powerful thing in the universe”; “This is not theory. It is fact. It is spiritual law”; and “These principles of faith are based on spiritual laws. They work for whoever will apply these laws. You set them in motion by the words of your mouth. Unless Christians abide by and operate such laws successfully, God Himself is hindered in His ability to act in their lives. Why? Because both God and Christians are bound by these laws. As Fred K.C. Price and others teach, just as God’s own power originates in the faith He exercises in His spoken words, so this is true for Christians. For example, “God created the universe by the methods you have just put into motion by the words of your mouth. God released His faith in words.”
What this means is that both man and God are limited in their ability to act supernaturally unless the proper Faith formulas are spoken that permit their power to operate. Only when men and women initiate God and His laws can they perform miracles.
For example, “God created the universe by speaking it into existence. He has given that same ability to you in word form.” Thus, God is a “word faith” God who created man in His image and gave him the potential to use the power that He displayed in creation. “Man is a spirit then, very capable of operating on the same level of faith as God.” As a result, “you have the power of God at your disposal.” All this explains why most Faith teachers think that man is a literal god – in the words of Copeland, a being “in the God class.” By imitating God’s use of cosmic laws, man can perform supernatural acts just as God does.
But Faith teachers also claim there is a danger in all this. These cosmic laws work indiscriminately. If Christians are not careful, Satan can deceive them because he, too, can operate by using the tongues of men in the god-class. For example, “Negative Confession” – anything spoken forth denying the principles of the Faith Movement – allows Satan to enter the lives of Christians and deceive them.
In any case, even the mission of Christ Himself is appropriated to the Faith philosophy. Why did Jesus come? According to the Faith Movement, one reason Jesus came was to make us strong “Faith Christians” who could do the things He did – and much greater things. Jesus came into this world because of the power of God’s spoken word and because of God’s “faith in his faith.” In fact, Jesus was the epitome of the true “Faith” man. He knew how to perfectly use the spiritual laws of the universe and therefore had tremendous powers and did incredible miracles. Thus, Jesus was an example of the Successful Man. Robert Tilton teaches “Jesus came to deliver humanity from failure, and to bring us into success.” And “God created man to be successful, but man failed … So God sent Jesus to recover us from failure and to restore us to that position of being successful… [Because of our failure] God came up with another plan. That plan was to send Jesus. Through Jesus, we were given the strength and power to be successful…”
In Commanding Power, Kenneth Hagen, Jr., teaches that the atonement of Christ brought Christians “commanding power” or the ability to command things around us to conform to our desires. “Our problem is that we’ve been doing a lot of praying and a lot of confessing, but we haven’t been doing any commanding. It is fun to command! … Jesus already paid the price for us to do it…”
Further, on the cross and in hell, Jesus not only defeated Satan and bore the penalty of sin, but He also bore the curse of the law (Galations 3:13) which paid the penalty for our disease, poverty, and illness so that no Christian need experience these.
What this means is that for the Faith Movement Jesus is not merely our Saviour from sin. He is the Redeemer of our faith, the perfect example of “Faith principles” in action. As “little Christs” and “little gods,” we are to be imitators of Him.
Now consider again what you have read, and ask yourself this question: If the Faith Movement has an unorthodox view of God, Jesus, faith, salvation, the Bible, sanctification, man, angels, etc., can it logically be considered orthodox Christianity? Further, if the Faith Movement is not orthodox, how can Christians logically justify their participation in it?
(from The Facts On The Faith Movement by John Ankerberg and John Weldon)
Showing posts with label Word Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word Faith. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Just Ignore Those Symptoms!
The Word Faith concept also includes a physical -symptoms-should-be-ignored principle that leads to unnecessary suffering and sometimes even death. Hagin advises that someone seeking healing "should look to God's Word, not to his symptoms." Real faith, according to Hagin, "believes the Word of God regardless of what the physical evidences may be."
Divine health is something we already possess says Word Faith teacher Jerry Savelle: "When symptoms come, it is nothing more than the thief trying to steal the health which is already ours. In other words, divine health is not something we are trying to get from God; it is something the Devil is trying to take away from us!...When the Devil tries to put a symptom of sickness or disease in my body, I absolutely refuse to accept it."
Countless tragedies have resulted from such thinking. One of the most widely publicized cases involved Larry and Lucky Parker, who, rather than giving insulin to their diabetic son, Wesley, followed Word Faith teachings and positively confessed his healing. After Wesley died in a diabetic coma on August 23, 1973, Larry and Lucky were tried and convicted of manslaughter. Thousands of equally tragic stories often go unnoticed. For instance:
Thirty-eight-year-old Christine Klear (a mother of three small children) died of breast cancer after she and her husband Douglas decided, through the influence of "TBN," to positively confess her healing and forego medical treatment.
While she was still in her mid-forties, doctors told F. Elizabeth Scott, that she had breast cancer. Instead of undergoing medical treatment, she trusted the teachings of her favourite Bible teachers, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and Marilyn Hickey. Mrs. Scott refused to acknowledge her physical symptoms and postively confessed a healing. Five years later the cancer-induced pain had become so unbearable that she began radiation therapy and "pleaded" with doctors to do something. She died that same year.
After Mary Turk discovered she had colon/rectal cancer, she made a vow of faith to Word Faith teacher, Robert Tilton. In order not to violate her "vow," she refused medical attention and believed that she was healed despite her symptoms. She died an agonzing death as the cancer spread throughout her entire abdominal cavity.
Word Faith leaders have responded to those deadly fruits of their labour by blaming those who died. The deceased simply did not have enough faith to bring about their healing. Price, for example, admits, "I have watched people die, and my heart went out to them, but their faith was not developed, and it couldn't bring the healing to pass, and they died. It wasn't the will of God that they died, but their faith wasn't sufficiently developed." Charles Capps agrees, "Many people die needlessly because they said, 'If I believe I am healed, I'll throw away all my medicine,' when their faith was not developed to that level."
Such cold-blooded remarks are causing even more deaths as staunch believers in Word Faith theology try to prove to themselves and to those around them that they have enough faith to be healed and that God's "best" belongs to them. According to D.R. McConnell:
The most consistent reports of abuse caused by the Faith doctrine of healing involve the treatment of those in the movement with chronic and/or terminal illnesses. Because of the belief that listening to a "negative confession" can infect one's faith, not many in the Faith Movement are willing even to be around, much less listen to, those who are seriously ill...A believer is shunned, isolated, and ostracized as though he was an unbeliever -- which, by definition, is precisely what he is or else he would not be ill in the first place...The time when a dying believer needs a word of encouragement is when he receives a sermonette on the failure of his faith...When a dying believer needs his faith the most is when he is told that he has it the least...When he needs support of a sensitive supportive body of believers is when he is ostracized and isolated as though he himself was infectious. Perhaps the most inhumane fact revealed about the Faith movement is this: When its members die, they die alone. (from Walter Martin)
Perhaps this is the reason that none of my three sons came to see me in the hospital recently when I had my heart attack. The leaders of this movement will have some serious "splainin" to do on Judgement Day.
I would also encourage my son, Glenn, who is a diabetic, not to fall for this very destructive teaching. Make sure you continue to take your insulin! Rest assured that the leadership of BVC will put you to the test if they haven't already. Remember your illness is a visible threat to their teachings on health and healing.
Divine health is something we already possess says Word Faith teacher Jerry Savelle: "When symptoms come, it is nothing more than the thief trying to steal the health which is already ours. In other words, divine health is not something we are trying to get from God; it is something the Devil is trying to take away from us!...When the Devil tries to put a symptom of sickness or disease in my body, I absolutely refuse to accept it."
Countless tragedies have resulted from such thinking. One of the most widely publicized cases involved Larry and Lucky Parker, who, rather than giving insulin to their diabetic son, Wesley, followed Word Faith teachings and positively confessed his healing. After Wesley died in a diabetic coma on August 23, 1973, Larry and Lucky were tried and convicted of manslaughter. Thousands of equally tragic stories often go unnoticed. For instance:
Thirty-eight-year-old Christine Klear (a mother of three small children) died of breast cancer after she and her husband Douglas decided, through the influence of "TBN," to positively confess her healing and forego medical treatment.
While she was still in her mid-forties, doctors told F. Elizabeth Scott, that she had breast cancer. Instead of undergoing medical treatment, she trusted the teachings of her favourite Bible teachers, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and Marilyn Hickey. Mrs. Scott refused to acknowledge her physical symptoms and postively confessed a healing. Five years later the cancer-induced pain had become so unbearable that she began radiation therapy and "pleaded" with doctors to do something. She died that same year.
After Mary Turk discovered she had colon/rectal cancer, she made a vow of faith to Word Faith teacher, Robert Tilton. In order not to violate her "vow," she refused medical attention and believed that she was healed despite her symptoms. She died an agonzing death as the cancer spread throughout her entire abdominal cavity.
Word Faith leaders have responded to those deadly fruits of their labour by blaming those who died. The deceased simply did not have enough faith to bring about their healing. Price, for example, admits, "I have watched people die, and my heart went out to them, but their faith was not developed, and it couldn't bring the healing to pass, and they died. It wasn't the will of God that they died, but their faith wasn't sufficiently developed." Charles Capps agrees, "Many people die needlessly because they said, 'If I believe I am healed, I'll throw away all my medicine,' when their faith was not developed to that level."
Such cold-blooded remarks are causing even more deaths as staunch believers in Word Faith theology try to prove to themselves and to those around them that they have enough faith to be healed and that God's "best" belongs to them. According to D.R. McConnell:
The most consistent reports of abuse caused by the Faith doctrine of healing involve the treatment of those in the movement with chronic and/or terminal illnesses. Because of the belief that listening to a "negative confession" can infect one's faith, not many in the Faith Movement are willing even to be around, much less listen to, those who are seriously ill...A believer is shunned, isolated, and ostracized as though he was an unbeliever -- which, by definition, is precisely what he is or else he would not be ill in the first place...The time when a dying believer needs a word of encouragement is when he receives a sermonette on the failure of his faith...When a dying believer needs his faith the most is when he is told that he has it the least...When he needs support of a sensitive supportive body of believers is when he is ostracized and isolated as though he himself was infectious. Perhaps the most inhumane fact revealed about the Faith movement is this: When its members die, they die alone. (from Walter Martin)
Perhaps this is the reason that none of my three sons came to see me in the hospital recently when I had my heart attack. The leaders of this movement will have some serious "splainin" to do on Judgement Day.
I would also encourage my son, Glenn, who is a diabetic, not to fall for this very destructive teaching. Make sure you continue to take your insulin! Rest assured that the leadership of BVC will put you to the test if they haven't already. Remember your illness is a visible threat to their teachings on health and healing.
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